Club of 5 middle power countries united on global issues

SEOUL, Sept. 28 (Yonhap) -- The top diplomats of South Korea and its four middle power partners celebrated the fifth anniversary of their consultative channel in a meeting held in New York this week, Seoul's foreign ministry said Friday.

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha met with her counterparts from Mexico, Indonesia, Turkey and Australia on Thursday (local time) on the sidelines of the annual U.N. General Assembly session.

In 2013, the countries launched the cross-regional group, named MIKTA after the initials of the nations.

"We have made strong progress in advancing MIKTA's objectives over the past five years," the ministers said in a joint statement. "Our achievements include increasing mutual understanding, deepening bilateral ties and finding common ground for cooperation

The five countries have held regular consultations aimed at advancing multilateral discussions on common issues and have "successfully bridged polarized policy positions with creative solutions" to global and regional challenges, they added.

MIKTA adopted two other joint statements on inter-Korean reconciliation earlier this year -- one after South Korea's hosting of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics and the other on the April 27 inter-Korean summit.

The ministers agreed to continue close coordination on pending regional and global affairs, going forward.